Failure
by Cybra
Summary: September 11th, 2001, will be a date the SWAT Kats will never forget. *Gift fic for Kristen Sharpe and Dedicated to the victims of September 11th*


Failure

Failure

By Worthy AKA Cybra

****

A/N: Hey, everybody! This is a gift fic for my good buddy Kristen Sharpe! :::hugs!::: Greatly inspired by her picture "We Failed" (or something like that…^^;;;) on her site. This is kinda my response to the recent attack on America as well as a fic to go with the pic. (I'm a poet, and I didn't even know it!)

****

Special Note: The facts presented here are (obviously) _not_ 100% accurate. Don't review saying that I got something wrong. Also, I'm calling the country they live in the United States of America simply because it seems like where they live is an alternate US and it suits my purposes. I may or may not call their country the USA in future stories (even though I think I will). Don't flame me about that either.

****

Disclaimer: Sadly, the Boys and the rest of the crew from SWAT Kats don't belong to me. Major bummer. Also, the song "God Bless the USA" belongs to someone else.

Every morning in MegaKat City was filled with the hustle and bustle of kats going to and fro on their way to work. Kittens rode school buses to arrive at school on time. Kats entered and left buildings as they followed their own personal agendas.

Nobody suspected the tragic events that were about to take place.

@~^~~

Albert Westmoreland sat down in his seat on the 747 that would take him to San Francisco, California. He would be returning home to see his wife and kids once more. He smiled to himself. Only a few more hours until he would have his little Susan's arms around his neck and his pre-teen Alan asking him how his trip was and whether or not he saw the two most famous vigilantes in the country (and perhaps the world): the SWAT Kats. (Alan literally hero-worshipped them, especially the tabby called T-Bone.)

As the jet lifted off from MegaKat International Airport, he reflected how he enjoyed spending time in MegaKat City but didn't want to live there. The crime rate was insane in more ways than one. He didn't like spending a week on business with Dr. Viper trying to take over the city. That had been the worst thing that had ever happened in his life because Albert truly hated snakes.

A strange kat sat silently beside him. After about an hour, the kat stood up and moved towards the front of the plane. Albert gazed curiously up at the kat, but the kat either didn't notice or ignored him. Albert shrugged to himself, silently commented how bizarre some people were, and pulled out his cell phone in order to call his kids.

@~^~~

T-Bone grinned widely as he guided the TurboKat between several of the surrounding buildings and above others. This was the life. Flying what had to be the most sophisticated jet in the air (despite the fact that it was built out of scrap metal) and with your best friend in the world.

He grinned even more widely as he felt the jet begin to do a bit of a turn when he let his paw slip a little at the controls. It almost seemed like the TurboKat was enjoying this as well. She had been a caged bird in the hangar, but now she was free to fly. He was more than happy to fly her. Just for kicks and to possibly scare the living daylights out of a few kats he had in mind, he had the powerful jet perform a lazy barrel roll. Her engines whined a little bit, but it was a good whine, almost as if she were approving the maneuver and telling him how much she enjoyed it. He had to admit he loved doing it as well.

Razor smiled as he gazed down over the city he called home. He loved doing a sweep of the city when there wasn't any trouble. It was great fun to gaze downward and idly speculate what was running through the citizens' heads. Not only did it help keep his mind occupied from the monotony of a quiet patrol, but it also gave him a bit of pride knowing that below him, nobody was worried for their safety with the SWAT Kats on the job.

A sudden movement caught his eye, pulling the smaller SWAT Kat out of his thoughts. He turned his full attention to a 747 jet. It was pulling into a whole different trajectory than the one he had noted no less than a minute before.

"That's weird…" he commented.

"I hear ya," T-Bone – his best friend and partner – stated. "Maybe it's headin' back to the airport."

"Engine trouble?"

"Could be."

The two SWAT Kats' earlier cheerful thoughts and mood vanished. Utmost seriousness filled the cockpit. It seemed as though the jet they flew had her own change in attitude. The TurboKat's pilots could feel the power she held even more so now, knowing that the jet was always ready to release that power on their command. No more were the SWAT Kats carefree. When something was unusual in this city, it spelled trouble with a capital "T".

"Razor, what's that jet's current – "

"Already trying to figure that out, good buddy," Razor responded, interrupting his partner.

T-Bone's green eyes narrowed. It _seemed_ like the commercial jet was just turning around but something about the sudden trajectory change unnerved him. It didn't _feel_ right to the burly SWAT Kat. Alarm bells were going off in his mind that he was certain echoed in his partner's mind as well.

"Looks like that jet's headin' straight now," T-Bone reported, eyes still narrowed.

The smaller kat informed his partner, "From what I can figure out, that jet's going to be headin' straight towards the Twin Towers."

"No kiddin'. Let's head on over to that jet and try to figure out what the heck's going on."

"Roger. I'll contact the captain."

"Roger that."

The tabby angled the fighter jet for an intercept course. At the same time, his partner activated the communications system.

@~^~~

Captain Kent Byrd stared at the kat now piloting the plane. The man had to be insane! Their present course would take them right into the Twin Towers! "We'll smash right into the buildings!" he shouted.

The kat said nothing. He kept flying smoothly forward.

That's when Captain Byrd realized that flying the airline jet into the Twin Towers was exactly what this lunatic wanted.

Before he could say a word, the radio crackled to life. An unfamiliar voice said, "This is Razor of the SWAT Kats. Excuse me, Captain, but my partner and I noticed your current course change, and we wanted to make sure everything was all right. Do you need assistance in any way? Over."

Silence as the SWAT Kat finished his message. Captain Byrd's heart soared. Never again would he say that the SWAT Kats were merely a nuisance!

To his horror, the kat flying the plane merely increased the speed of the jet and rocketed the airline jet towards the World Trade Center.

@~^~~

On a different flight, Albert stiffened in horror as a voice that was most certainly not the captain's came over the intercom. "Ladies and gentlekats, I regret to inform you that your flight plans have been permanently cancelled. I will be flying this plane to my target straight away. We will not arrive in San Francisco as originally planned. That is all."

"Albert, what's going on?" Albert's wife Rebecca asked via the cell phone Albert was using.

"Rebecca…my plane's just been hijacked." He was surprised as to how calmly he said these words. The hijacker obviously didn't plan on anyone coming out of this alive.

Horrified silence from the other end of the connection.

"Honey, I love you. I always have…"

"I love you, too, Albert. I always have and always will."

A new voice joined on the conversation.

"Daddy, I'm scared…" Susan whimpered.

"Sh…, Suzie Q…" he soothed. "It's going to be okay…"

"Dad!" a young he-kat cried out suddenly.

"Alan, take care of your sister and your mother for me, okay?" Albert asked, tears running down his cheeks.

"Daddy, y-y-you're going to be come-coming h-h-home…" his daughter protested as she sobbed.

"Oh, Susan…Daddy's probably not going to make it home…"

"Dad…it's gonna be okay," Alan told him, his voice cracking. "The SWAT Kats'll show up any minute and save your tails."

"Alan, I think we're kinda out of range for them. I know they'll try their best, but I don't think they'll make it."

Were those sniffles he heard from his son even as he heard his wife and daughter sobbing?

"I love all three of you. Please don't forget that…" he hoarsely whispered.

"Sweetheart…" Rebecca whispered.

"Yes, Rebecca?" he asked, noticing out of the corner of his eyes a few of his fellow passengers entering the cockpit and barely hearing the scuffle that quickly followed.

"You know that surprise I had for you when you came home?"

"Yes?"

"I'm pregnant. We're going to be having another little girl."

Tears ran even more freely down Albert's cheeks. "I think I know what to name her."

"What?"

"Hope." He felt the plane tilt downward. They were going to crash into the ground instead of a building. They would all die, but many other lives would be saved. "I love you all."

Those were Albert Westmoreland's final words before he died.

@~^~~

"She can't take much more of this!" T-Bone shouted to his partner.

In a risky, desperate, and – as those with common sense would say – downright stupid maneuver, T-Bone and Razor had done a fly-by magnetic lock-on to the airline jet. Now, the TurboKat was straining to stay in the air with a far heavier jet attached to it while that other jet was going in the opposite direction. The TurboKat's metal screamed as if the jet were in agony.

"I know! She wasn't _designed_ for this type of situation! I'm trying to get the Enforcers out here to back us up!"

T-Bone gritted his teeth. There had been no time to fly over the commercial flight, turn around, and then lock on from the proper direction. It would've wasted valuable time. So T-Bone had given the order to pull this insane stunt. He silently complimented his partner for the excellent lock-on the small kat had managed to get them. However, now was not the time for congratulations.

"Enforcer Headquarters, this is Razor of the SWAT Kats requesting backup! I repeat, this is Razor of the SWAT Kats requesting backup! We have a situation with an airline jet attempting to crash into the Twin Towers! Over!" the smaller SWAT Kat shouted into the radio.

The burly SWAT Kat felt the TurboKat suddenly lurch a little forward. His green eyes widened. The commercial jet was turning up the power of her engines. In this tug-of-war, the commercial jet was sure to win at this rate.

His finger flew for the small red button that would switch the four jet boosters from their normal mode to Speed of Heat mode. At the very last second, he stopped and shuddered at what he'd almost done.

The TurboKat had been specially modified for the Speed of Heat turbine enhancement Razor had designed and they both had built. (It's a little known fact that MASA had once asked the SWAT Kats if they could study the engines for possible use on the space shuttle, but the two vigilantes hadn't given them a definite decision yet even though it was most likely a "no".) The airline jet would never be able to take the pressure. T-Bone could picture the airline jet blowing up in a spectacular ball of flame.

The tabby barely noted the death that would've been in store for him and his partner as well. With the grappler down, the heat shield wouldn't be as effective. They, too, would've blown up in a ball of fire only they had the possibility of flames from the jet going through Speed of Heat mode entering the cockpit as well, either giving them a quick and merciful death of incineration or a slow and agonizing death of burning alive.

The radio crackled as Commander Feral's voice boomed over the radio, "Hold them for a few more minutes!"

"What's he think we're gonna do," T-Bone demanded, "let them **_go?!"_**

"I heard that."

The burly tom kat grumbled something that sounded something along the lines of "You coulda warned me the frequency was open…"

Razor gave his partner an apologetic look in the mirror before turning back to the situation at hand. His panel was giving the most distressing readouts he'd seen yet. Pressure continued to build up as the deadly game of tug-of-war continued, the reading already deep into the red area. Along with the pressure, the amount of potential energy was building up. When the grappler broke, both they and the airline jet would be rocketed forward at a phenomenal rate.

The gunner knew he would have to give more power to the engines and the grappler in an attempt to win this deadly game. However, the attempt would be a feeble one. The TurboKat could not win this fight.

That's when the grappler began making snapping sounds and the horrible sound of metal being ripped away from metal.

@~^~~

Commander Feral flew forward with his entire squadron. As much as he hated to admit it, he was not only worried about the passengers on that commercial airline plane, but he was also concerned for the occupants of the fighter jet that was holding the jumbo jet relatively still. There was little the Enforcers could do in this situation. They couldn't shoot down the airline jet with innocent civilians inside.

Feral had realized that that had been the SWAT Kats' own problem in the beginning. They ordinarily wouldn't have hesitated to open fire on an enemy aircraft attempting to destroy something. Gripping onto the airline jet had been their only answer. Now it was up to the Enforcers to make sure both jets came out of this dangerous situation in as close to one piece as possible.

As the Enforcer squadron approached, the commander knew they were too late.

Electricity crackled around the large metal grappler beneath the TurboKat. It was bending in a way that must have been unnatural for it to do so. The fighter jet and the jumbo jet continued to fight each other…

…but the good guys don't always win.

As the radio suddenly crackled to life, Lieutenant Felina Feral realized that the SWAT Kats had forgotten to cut off their communications system. Voices from the cockpit of the TurboKat yelled at each other in order to be heard over the din of metal straining, engines whining, and electricity popping.

"The grappler's snapping almost in half!"

"Crud! Crud! Crud! I've got red lights on our engines!"

"You think the engines are bad, look at the indicators on the TurboKat's body!"

"Double Crud!"

"Triple crud! The grappler's – **T-Bone, the jet's almost – "**

Razor never finished his sentence as the grappler snapped in half, sending the two jets rocketing forward in their respective directions. The airline jet struggled for a few moments, but soon regained its original course. Half of the Enforcer squadron – led by Felina – gave chase, trying to figure out what to do.

The TurboKat was the most affected by the grappler snapping. She flipped end over end, engines whining as her pilot attempted to recover and compensate for what had happened. The scream of metal caused the air around her to vibrate. It was almost as if the jet were screaming in agony.

T-Bone sweated as he tried to right the jet. He could vaguely hear his partner reporting that he was going to shut down all unnecessary systems and redirect power to the VTOL engines. A glance at his screen told the burly kat just which systems were being shutdown: the auxiliary weapons array, what little power that was still escaping through the frayed wires of the grappler, the power that was saved specifically for the Speed of Heat, and lastly, the main weapons array. In a word, the TurboKat was now prone to any attack.

All this extra power flooded into the VTOL jets and gave just enough power for T-Bone to right the jet and turn it towards the World Trade Center…

…just in time to watch the jumbo jet slam into the Tower on the right.

****

"No!" was the combined scream of two voices.

Flames blew outward from the tower. Smoke billowed from the open wound of the building. Razor felt as though his senses had intensified so he could witness the horror vividly since he watched as kats' bodies plummeted towards the ground below. His amber eyes widened and tears began to fill them, but the tears would not spill over and his vision was not blurring.

"This isn't happening…" Felina whispered, going directly into the denial stage of grief. "This is some sort of nightmare…"

Ann Gora of Kat's Eye News, arriving on the scene in the news helicopter, couldn't find the words to describe what she saw. A lump formed in her throat. Her brother-in-law _worked_ in the World Trade Center. All she could do was motion for her camerakat Jonny to film the destruction.

"Annie, you okay?" Jonny asked quietly, just loud enough for her to hear but just low enough for the microphone not to pick him up. Of course, he knew that she wasn't but could think of nothing else to say.

"No," she mouthed back.

T-Bone glanced towards the north and his green eyes widened. **"No! Not another one!"**

Another airline jet was rocketing towards the Towers. Its intent was clear. Like its sister, the commercial flight would smash into the World Trade Center as well.

Though wounded as she was, the TurboKat gave chase, her pilots hoping against the inevitable that they could somehow cut off the jumbo jet's flight path. Razor gripped his stick, feeling useless. It was up to his partner and the TurboKat now.

Much to the SWAT Kats' surprise, Commander Feral himself flew beside them, somehow sensing their desperate plan. In a perfect attack formation that Feral could never plan his Enforcers to perform, the Enforcer and vigilante jets picked up speed to catch the commercial flight.

The SWAT Kats lined up behind Feral, Felina and the rest of the Enforcers coming up from behind. They all buzzed the commercial jet, trying to knock it off-course using sonic booms.

The effort was in vain.

The second jet slammed into the other Twin Tower.

@~^~~

Razor paused a moment in his helping the rescue teams locate survivors to glance up at the still-smoking Twin Tower. There was only one now. The first Tower had crashed to the ground, surprising everyone and burying more people in the rubble. Who knew how many kats were trapped amongst the debris?

The Devil himself must've been proud of the destruction and danced upon the graves of the thousands that had most likely died.

The slim SWAT Kat was surprised when he saw a familiar face helping dig through the rubble. She wasn't a member of either the Enforcers or the other rescue teams. She should've been working but had obviously chosen to assist those who needed it.

"Miss Gora?" he called quietly.

Ann turned her filthy face back towards the vigilante. Tears stains had been highlighted by the dirt that had stuck to their once-wet trails. "Razor?"

He was in no better shape than she was. Dust and dirt had collected itself in his fur and hid the bright colors of his flight suit. She hardly recognized him under the circumstances.

"Someone you know's in there." It wasn't a question.

Ann nodded slowly. "My brother-in-law…"

The vigilante's ears drooped as he glanced back down at the Mini Kat Scanner on his glove-a-trix. Sighing, he shut it off to save the power cell. "Too much heat," he muttered.

The reporter smiled thinly. "That's the thingamajig you used to help find me with the giant scorpions, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It picks up warm-blooded creatures, but the fires…" He paused, gulping. "…the fires are giving off such a large heat source, it's not really useful in this situation."

"You guys did your best," the reporter reassured him.

He sighed. "We never expected something like that to happen. Maybe we shoulda." His ears flattened against his helmet as he growled, "They _knew_ nobody would shoot them down!"

Ann didn't need to ask about whom Razor was speaking. It was obvious that someone had planned this out. Within an hour, two more commercial jets crashing had been reported. One had slammed into the Pentagon while the other had slammed into the ground when the passengers of the plane had obviously fought back. All flights were now grounded since another jet had been reported missing.

The caramel-furred kat glanced up in surprise as the reporter rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Nobody blames you or the Enforcers. What _could_ you have done differently in this situation?"

"Nothing," the SWAT Kat bitterly answered. "That's what makes me so mad."

Ann nodded in agreement. "Whoever's behind this _won't_ get away with it. The whole _country_ won't _let_ them get away with it. I know it."

Smiling grimly yet with determination, Razor offered, "Want to see if we can pull anyone out?"

She nodded again, giving her own grim and determined smile. "Love to."

@~^~~

T-Bone glanced up from his digging in another section. He snarled as he glared at the smoke still spilling out of the remaining Tower's side. "The cowards…"

Felina glanced up to see the way the tabby was glaring at the Tower. He looked as though he was ready to explode at any moment. She glanced around, trying to find his partner, and sighed when she saw that the slim kat was nowhere in sight. She then remembered that he was in another section, searching for survivors.

"Want to repeat that?" Felina asked, inching a little closer to T-Bone but making sure not to get _too_ close in case the burly tom felt the urge to lash out at something.

"They were cowards! Using a commercial flight…No. Using _civilians_ like that!" He closed his green eyes as he raked his claws across a piece of ripped-apart concrete, his claws leaving a mark that caused the Enforcer lieutenant's eyes to widen. "The worst part was that they knew and _we_ knew we couldn't do anything about it. What were we supposed to do?! We couldn't just shoot an airline jet down!"

"I know, T-Bone. It ticks me off, too." Her fur was bristling as she said so. She sounded calm, but she, too, was ready to blow a gasket. She muttered, "Dad was lucky."

"What do you mean?"

Felina hadn't expected him to overhear her but told him, "Dad was supposed to go talk to someone here today. He caught the flu and had to stay home today so he cancelled the meeting."

The tabby's eyes widened in surprise. "Incredible how a little flu changed things for your dad."

"I hope others were as lucky," Felina admitted, "because I know that those who took those flights and who worked in these buildings weren't."

His anger all burned out for the time being, the vigilante placed a hand on the Enforcer's shoulder. "I hope so, too." He gave a small grin, a pale mirror image of his normal roguish grin. "Let's go see if we can change somebody's future."

"Let's."

@~^~~

****

"Okay! Everybody, look away from the sky and look for any survivors!" T-Bone's voice boomed in the night air.

As soon as everyone was ready, Razor aimed and fired a Flashbulb Missile high into the air, making sure that the bulb would arc downward to shine its powerful light on the darkened ruins of the Twin Towers.

In the middle of the rescue effort, the second Tower had collapsed, leaving more rescue workers trapped in the rubble. Now, it was nearly midnight, and the sky had grown dark, creating an even greater difficulty of finding anyone. In a flash of insight (no pun intended), the smaller SWAT Kat had rerouted power back into the main weapons array in order to be able to activate and fire the Flashbulb Missiles.

As Feral focused his attention on the ruins of the Twin Towers, the light of the missile stabbed his eyes. It lit up the night with a brilliance that seemed to shine a little hope on the situation. It was as clear as day out. Quickly, the crews hunted for survivors as the missile slowly began to dim and descend back to terra firma.

The commander of the Enforcers sighed inwardly. Who would've thought that he and the SWAT Kats would be willingly working together for more than twelve hours straight? There had been that one time when the supervillains of MegaKat City had teamed up to destroy the SWAT Kats and control MegaKat City, but Feral could think of no other time he had worked with the vigilantes as partners in a way.

He closed his eyes. His brother had almost ended up being killed in this insanity. A case of the flu had prevented the business kat's death. Feral knew he should've been glad – and, in a way, he was – but couldn't be truly glad because so many others had lost their lives.

The light ended at last as the missile crashed to the ground. By this time, a few shouts had been raised as limbs that were obviously still attached to bodies had been located in the debris. Now, the bodies were being recovered.

The leader of the second team of rescue workers walked up to Feral. "Commander Feral, your team has already been dismissed to get some rest. I suggest that you go and rest as well."

The tall kat glanced at the two vigilantes who had returned to digging through the rubble. Their movements had grown sluggish (the same as his) as time had crawled by, but they refused to leave. He almost smiled. He supposed that perhaps he wasn't so different from the two mask-wearing kats after all. Both he and they worked hard to achieve the same goals but implemented different plans in order to do so.

He nodded and the leader of the second rescue team left him. Feral took a deep breath.

****

"SWAT Kats! Come here! I need to speak with you two!"

A small, grim chuckle escaped his throat as the two vigilantes jumped in surprise.

Razor froze for the briefest of moments, trying to jump-start his heart once more. It wasn't an easy task considering that he was exhausted.

T-Bone had a similar problem as he muttered to his partner, "Are we _that_ tired?"

"Yes."

The burly SWAT Kat said nothing as the pair of them walked towards their temporary commander. He grinned inwardly as the two of them "clicked" their barefoot heels together, arched their tails in the military stance, and gave a smart salute, gaining a surprised look from Commander Feral.

Instead of following military protocol, the pilot of the TurboKat asked, "You shouted?"

"I'm ordering the two of you to return to your base for some rest."

The caramel-furred vigilante sputtered, "But – but what about – ?"

"You may return in the morning for a new assignment, but I want you both to not return for a full eight hours. Is that clear?"

T-Bone's ears flattened against his helmet. "Listen, Feral…"

"T-Bone, Feral has a point." As the two taller kats turned to the smaller kat, Razor took it as his cue to continue by saying, "We're both exhausted. We _should_ get some rest. We'll just be in the way if we drop."

The tabby opened his mouth to say something, shut it, and then opened it again to order his partner, "Get the communicator."

The smaller SWAT Kat sprinted towards the badly wounded TurboKat at the same time Feral asked, "Communicator?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, Feral, you and Razor are both right. We just want _you_ to do the same." As his partner returned, carrying some strange object in his hand, he continued, "This'll make sure that you're at your _own_ place resting, too, for the next eight hours. Plus, if you need us, just call."

The smaller vigilante handed the device over to Feral. He had rigged all of the communicators so that the Enforcers couldn't trace where the signal was going. It was a fine masterpiece, but it didn't look nearly as good as the white, triangular communicator that Callie used to summon them. It was the same type of communicator that they had given Mayor Manx and Callie during that time Viper had tried to change MegaKat City to Mutation City. It looked more like an over-glorified walkie-talkie than the high-tech communicator it really was.

"Just don't take it apart, okay?" Razor requested, eyes pleading. "These things are a pain to build."

The larger SWAT Kat almost started laughing. His memory had chosen that second to recall those times when Razor had to rebuild Callie's own communicator due to circumstances beyond their control. Instead of whistling while he worked, he'd been grumbling complaints. It wasn't easy to find the parts to build the communicators in the scrap yard, and when the duo _found_ the parts, it wasn't easy putting them together in the way they should go.

Feral examined it, inwardly marveling at the complex piece of equipment they'd given him. "Why are you giving me this?"

"We have a death wish." T-Bone rolled his eyes.

"_Actually,_" Razor cut in, lightly jabbing his partner in the stomach, "we've been talking about it for a few hours while we were working." His amber eyes turned grave, losing most of their inner glow for the briefest of moments. "The Enforcers and us won't have time to fight each other in the middle of this mess. We're calling a truce." The SWAT Kat extended his paw. "Think of us as your backup when you need it."

"Of course, we'll show up anyway," T-Bone added, shrugging. "You can't change that."

The Enforcer commander looked from one SWAT Kat to the other and back again. At last, he took the pro-offered paw and shook it. "Truce." Then, he growled out, "Now the two of you better get back to your base and rest!"

"Yes, Dad," T-Bone responded, rolling his eyes. He grinned roguishly. "Just because we have a truce doesn't mean that we're _completely_ subordinate to you, you know."

"C'mon, Buddy. Let's go," Razor urged, tugging on his partner's arm while hoping to avoid a new argument with Feral.

Within moments, the TurboKat shakily took off into the sky. The Enforcer commander watched from his position in his own jet. He would have to fly back to Enforcer HQ in order to pick up his car to drive home.

The small truce between the Enforcers and the SWAT Kats was nothing momentous yet still important. In a way, it signaled the beginning of a united front against terrorism.

The time had come for the entire United States of America to truly unite in order to preserve their freedom once more.

The tabby glanced back at his partner in the mirror, smiling faintly at the sight of his partner with his arms crossed and eyes closed. It was obvious that Razor had fallen asleep.

As damaged as the TurboKat was T-Bone changed the communications system into a radio, turning down the volume so only he could hear.

His bass lightly mingled with the song's words.

"And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And I'll proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today…"

A familiar tenor joined his, the owner of the tenor voice having been awoken by a small creak from the TurboKat.

"'Cause there ain't no doubt, I love this land. God bless the USA."

As the chorus repeated itself on the radio, the two SWAT Kats began to sing with a defiance towards the terrorists, "And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free! And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me! And I'll proudly stand up next to you and defend her still today! 'Cause there ain't no doubt, I love this land…

"God…bless…the…U…S…A!"

****

Musical Inspirations:

"The Stampede" from The Lion King Original Broadway Cast Recording

"Rafiki Mourns" from The Lion King Original Broadway Cast Recording


End file.
